Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-04-29
)l} Y :!
HARRISONBURG CAPTURED BY
THE PROHIBIIIONISIS.


TRICT BY 241-MEN wHoiHADN"T VOTED
FOR 20 YEARS COMING OUT TO VOTE
DRY-THE CLERGY ACTIyE-A RAINY
DAY FOR THE BALLOT CASTING WHAT
BUsIN ESs INTEREST IS AFFECTED-A
HARDSHIP OF THE LOCAL OPTION LAW.
reported for the staunton V1NDIcAToR.]
HARRISON BURG, APRIL 25th.
did not have to wait till the train
reached Harrisonburg this morning to see
something of the engagement which was
going on in that town. When we stopped
at the pretty little station of Pleasant
Valley, six miles from here. two passen-
gers got on who were suggestive. One
was man Of fifty, dressed with that neat
ness and care that oftenest characterizes
clergyman. He was evidently profess
sonal man, and in his lapel there fluttered
o. blue ribbon. A friend, near whom he
took his seat, said lightly: II suppose
you are going to Harrison burg to take
hand for the Drys'" With solemnity
J not unmixed with sternness, and strangely
in contrast with the jesting tone Of his
friend he replied: .'It God spares me TO
get there, am" I fouad cut afterw ards
that he was not a clergyman but man of
affairs largely engaged in developing the
mineral wealth Of Virginia. The other
passenger who got on was a colored man.
Fastened on the breast of his coarse coat
was blue ribbon. He too was going to
Harrisonburg with the same intent, and
had brought his wife and children to make
day of it. When l reached the town
and commenced tbs long trip from the
depot to the court house, the first evidence
of the engagement saw was boy about
ten years OF age wearing the blue, and the
next was a man so bent with age that he
tottered, wearing the same badge. 1t was
| the cradle and the grave. The clouds
were heavy, the mist which afterwards
changed to q pouring rain. was thick,
and the whole look of the town was
gloomy
| THE FIELD ON WHICH THE ENGAGEMENT
TOOK PLACE
Before l give you an account of the fight
| let me give you d sketch of the field Har-
| risonburg is pretty town Of about four
| thousand inhabitants. It has six saloons,
aud one liquor store that is NOT d saloon.
| All are located on the main street of the
town, and all are within, say hundred
yards of the courthouse. I do not gather
that their keepers have been less law
| abiding than the trade generally is,
or that the manner in which they
/ have been kept has been objection
able to the public. Their chief sin
IN the eyes of the majority of the commu-
nifty seems to have been that they did what
they took out license to do-sold liquor,
and good deal OF it. In 1897 this town
| had in it's charter a provisiOn-or perhaps
| there was no such charter provision but
simply al understanding-that the Coun-
ty Judge should not grant a liquor license
| within the corporate limits of The town, save
on the recommendation of the town coua3sgl
! Gil. In that year, Tor some reason Oh OF
| the Council decided not to recommends
any one as a fit person to keep saloon in
the town, and the Judge refused to grant
| any license. Ghe town thus became dry
| and remained so for several months until
recommendations to the Judge who re-
! stored the place to its former yves
status. There has been steadily growing
| in Qarrisonburg and the county OF Rock
| lngham feeling in favor of Prohibition.
| Its growth, was told, had been incl eased
in the town itself by the fact that the sa-
| looms had become d power in public and
political matters. La politics. the party
| the power sided with. liked it little better
than the party it opposed; and, from what
| can learn about the vote just cast,
members OF both parties seized upon this,
their first opportunity, to down it. Just as
| in Stanton many members of both par
| ties. for the same reason, seized upon
April 5th as an opportunity to give it
perilously close shave. Six weeks ago the
growth of the anti liquor feeling in the
county undertook to size itself up and
find by actual measurement to what
statue it had groWn-it undertook TO down
whiskey at tbs ballot box. The Local Op-
ton County Committee reorganiZed and
determined to make the fight. The Presi-
dent Of the Committee is the Rev, A. p.
Funkhouser, United Brethren minister,
the publisher of a Republican and Prohi-
bition paper called the Estate Republic
can," late County School Superintendent
| under the Malone administration, and a.
man of unWearying persistence and tire
less energy. His paper and his personal
labor have been given to the cause with
out stint. The petitions were gotten up
and circulated for signatures, as is usual in
such struggles, largely by the members of
the Women's Christian Temperance
Union of which Mrs. Paul, the wife of
Ron. John Paul, Judge of the U. s. Dis
trict Court, is President. There are five
districts in the county and signatures were
gotten from all-save one, Stonewall-in
time. and Judge Grattan ordered local
option election for April 25th. in Stone
wall, the election is now ordered for July
18th. There was just one hope in Harrison
burg for the license men, and that one
that enough majority for license could be
obtained in the town to overcome the
county precincts-Keezletown and Mt.
Clinton-which it has to vote with in the
Central District. Outside of Harrison
burg there is but one saloon in the county.
but there are twelve brandy dstilleries,
THE CAMPAIGN IN THE COUNTY,
The campaign may be said to have COM
menced in the county three weeks ago.
and every minister but four took an active
part in one way or another in helping the
Dry side. Anti-liquor sermons were
preached by the ministers everywhere and
in some neighborhoods almost every night
The stir in public sentiment soon became